


Smile

by radiantgem



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, F/M, Gen, Hope is Ephemer's older brother, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 01:37:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiantgem/pseuds/radiantgem
Summary: "You don't smile like you used to."





	Smile

“Hey Skuld, can I ask you something?”

The soft pitter patter of the rain outside filled the silence of the room. She turned her head towards Ephemer and saw an almost guilty expression. That was new. She tried for a weak smile.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Did I make you sad, before all of this?”

She felt her stomach drop, and hoped her eyes didn’t give away the dread crawling in her veins, “W-why would you ask that?”

“Because that’s all I ever do now,” he mumbled.

Skuld let the statement sink in as she wordlessly got up from the desk chair and sat next to him against his bed. When she looked at him, his eyes were seemingly locked on his completed puzzle. She gently nudged his shoulder.

“You never made me sad, not on purpose anyway. You-” she swallowed her pride as her ears started to burn, “you always made me smile.”

“Not anymore.”

“Why would you say that?”

He turned towards her this time, and met her eyes, “You don’t smile like you used to.”

Skuld froze. She thought she was doing a good job at hiding it.

“Hope showed me pictures,” Ephemer reached inside his pocket for a couple of polaroids, showing her each one, “He said this one was when we were really little.”

When she looked at the picture, she saw a much smaller version of herself, with missing front teeth, positively beaming. She shook her head softly as she remembered what happened that day, an amused grin growing on her face. She pointed at the young boy beaming holding a piece of string that held two of her teeth. “You yanked my baby teeth out that day.”

Ephemer frowned, “What was wrong with me?”

Skuld chuckled into her hand, “Nothing! You just wanted to help me out.”

He scratched his head, “By yanking your teeth out?”

“They were both pretty loose at that point. I was afraid to eat cos I thought I’d accidentally swallow them with my food. So you yanked them out.”

He shook his head, “Doesn’t seem nice.”

“And yet,” she pointed at the picture, “we were both smiling.” She nudged him again with her shoulder, “You’ve always been a nice guy. That hasn’t changed at all. And I don’t think it will.”

That made him grin, almost like he did before. He switched the Polaroid out with another picture in his hand, this one much more recent. It was another picture of the two of them, though they were in much more formal attire. Ephemer wore a tuxedo while Skuld wore a long black dress with her hair up for the occasion.

“You look really pretty here. Kinda like a goddess in one of my books.”

She froze for a good two seconds before her face was on fire. Her jerk reaction was to push him away, but since he wasn’t used to her in general without the years of memories to back up her behavior, she resisted. Instead she opted to throw her oversize hood on and yank at the cord locks til most of her face was hidden.

Ephemer jumped in surprise. “Wha- what’s wrong?!”

“That was such an embarrassing thing to say!”

“But I’m just saying the truth!”

“ _That isn’t making it any better!_ ”

He pouted. “What? I thought saying nice things was a good thing.”

“It is. . .” Her voice trailed off into a murmur, “I just don’t take them well.”

He hummed. “Did I ever compliment you before?”

“Rarely like that.” She hugged her knees. “You teased me more often than you complimented me.”

“I can see why. Genuine compliments obviously make you uncomfortable.”

She whined, “I know, I know.”

“Guess that’s why I didn’t do it often.”

She slightly opened her hood and peeked at him. His expression was earnest.

“I actually like seeing you like this. It’s fun. But I obviously didn’t want to make you feel bad, before anyway.”

“And what about now?”

He shrugged, “I’m still learning on what’s good to say and what’s not good to say. I still think saying nice things is better than not saying anything at all. I can’t tell what’s embarrassing to say or why I shouldn’t say it. So, I guess you should get used to it,” a playful smirk grew on his face.

 _This isn’t fair in the slightest._ A bashful smile wobbled its way onto her face, and she could only look away.

“ _Hey_ , I finally made you smile! I wanna see!”

“No way! It’s humiliating!”

“Come on, please~” he batted his eyes and gave her a Look.

“I am deliberately choosing not to look at you. I know what you’re doing,” she found herself giggling.

“I’ll only make it worse the longer you ignore my pleas.” He made sure he was in her line of sight. “Do you really want to keep it up?”

“Fine! Fine! You stubborn mule.” She pulled her hood down. She was sure her face was still pink, but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. She hasn’t felt this blissfully happy in a while. “Better?”

“I made you _really_ smile,” his laugh was a little breathless, “Finally. After all these months.”

The edge of her mouth twitched downward, “Ephemer. . .”

“I know me losing all my memories is hard. It’s hard on me too, ya know? Knowing everyone is sad because of me, and not knowing how to fix it.” He held his hands together on his lap, “You were my closest friend and it took me this long to finally make you really smile.”

Skuld swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. _Were._  She tried to speak, but to no avail. Her hands began to fidget, picking on her nails and dead skin. She had to do something, she couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. A light bulb went off as she remembered a distant memory in the back of her head, something she used to do that she had long abandoned as the two of them grew up.

Silently, she shifted her weight so she was sitting on her legs and reached her hands towards Ephemer’s head, bringing him to her shoulder. She felt him stiffen until she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, giving him a bear hug. She felt his head lay on her shoulders, his nose at the crook of her neck, and his arms softly embrace her back. She softly laid her head on his, careful to not apply too much pressure.

“I am sad you lost your memories, that I will admit,” she sniffed, “but I don’t want you to think it’s your fault I haven’t been smiling like I used to. It’s mine.” She slightly tightened her grip, “I’m sorry I made you think it was your fault.”

He began to softly pat her back, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

She lightly shook her head, “You already have. You made me smile like I used to today didn’t you?”

She felt him smile through her hoodie. “I guess I did.”

Without anything left to say, they stayed quiet. Skuld stared at his grayish white curls, and reached with one hand to lightly pull on one, only for it to bounce back into it’s natural curl once she let go. She remembered playing with his hair as a child, amazed at how different his hair was in comparison to her own. Now that she thought about it, she was a lot less rough as a kid, in comparison to how she is now. She couldn’t remember what made her shift from hugs and gently playing with his hair to punching and pushing as showing her affection. She thought about how Ephemer changed, and recalled how, for better or for worse, how much more _blunt_ he was. Almost like how he is now, he didn’t have a filter. She grinned at memories of inappropriate comments that’d spill out of his mouth throughout the years. She wondered when he began to grow a filter to hold back even the kind thoughts in his mind. His voice soon broke her out of her reverie.

“Skuld?” His voice seemed to shake.

“Hmm?”

Ephemer lifted his head from her shoulders and looked at her with a huge smile. “I remember.”

She felt her heart beat pound in her ears. “You what?”

He placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her excitedly, “I remembered you! I _remember_ you!”

“You-you do?” She started to rapidly blink.

“Hey, I got an idea!” His eyes lit up with excitement as he grabbed both of Skuld’s hands and dragged her up from the floor. “Come on, get up! We gotta go!”

“Wha-where?!” She would’ve stumbled over her own two feet if he wasn’t still holding on to her hands.

“Anywhere that’ll spark another memory! We just got the ball rolling! We gotta keep it up!”

“Okay okay! Hold on!” Skuld tried to suppress the giggle as she was essentially dragged out of his room, down the stairs of his house. She received a shocked look from Hope, and she could only laugh in response. She didn't know whether or not he'd recover all his memories, but this was a start. It was enough to make her smile again.

 


End file.
